Musician and Actor Billy Burke has starred in such films as the Twilight Saga, Drive Angry, Removal, Highland Park, Luster, Baby O, The Closer and more.

Let’s all just face it. We spend our whole lives seeking out the things we want and TRYING to obtain them, but aren’t the best things we end up getting almost ALWAYS accidents and surprises? Such was the case with this latest video. There was no planning or even any intention involved, at least on my part. Most of the footage was produced without my knowledge while I was away on location filming something else. The footage of ME was shot in about two hours (I just hammed it up for a couple of takes with my 3 year old daughter’s miniature guitar and drum set). Photographed and directed by Adam Mason, conceived and designed by Pollyanna Rose herself, this video came as a gift. All the credit goes to them with my shocked and humble gratitude.

Now I’m not sayin’ it’s not important that we work hard in order to enjoy the fruits of our labor and all that. Everyone knows the more you do, the more that comes back. But sometimes the results of those things we pour our guts into, turn out to be only half as rewarding as the “mystery fruits”. The ones that somehow look shinier and taste sweeter. The ones that get fertilized by the residual energy we put out there. The ones that come from the seeds we didn’t know we planted.

For the next 72 hours I’m going to be giving away a free, previously unreleased track. This is the story of how it came to be…

Veruca Salt: “Snozberry?! Who ever heard of a Snozberry?!
Wonka: “WE are the music makers. And WE are the dreamers of dreams”.

My favorite movie of all time is still “Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory”. Almost every scene contains a simple but often forgotten life lesson or rule to live by. But instead of force feeding these proverbs down our gullets with a bulldozer sized “drama spoon”, the creators chose to let the characters lick their fingers and “wet willy” the irony into our ears.

When the master of derision himself, Gene Wilder embodied one of the greatest adjudicators in literary history (Willy Wonka), our morality gauges young and old, were poked and tickled into submission. In the glorious aforementioned moment, when Wonka disputes Veruca’s un-childlike, insulting lack of “pure imagination” with a deft quote from Authur O’Shaughnessy while not so gently scrunching her cheeks together, the tone of this masterpiece gracefully careens from remedial quirkiness into sublime perspicacity. (That means it starts off a bit milky and awkward but becomes fuckin’ genius).

Candy wrap all of this into a musical with an almost eerie, other worldly quality and some disturbingly indelible songs, and it’s pretty tough to think of any other motion picture that’s been able to weave such sociocultural nuances.

“If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it.” Were any truer words ever sung or spoken? They have stuck with me since I was 8 years old. I couldn’t think of a better way to pay homage to a film and a song that’s haunted and taunted me forever than to warble out my own humble version of it. So, about 10 years ago… I did.

I was in a studio session just banging out random shit to warm up my fingers and vocal chords and the engineer said “Hey, let’s lay one of those down”. The recording you’ll hear (if you choose to snag it for this limited time) is just me sitting at a baby grand piano– oh, so many years ago. The significance and the sentiment of this song for me, speaks for itself. I hope it taps your “fountain of youth keg” as well.

The track is not currently available for sale anywhere. Instead I’m going to give it away for free to anyone who picks up a copy of my physical album here:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/billyburke

Once you’ve ordered it simply send an email to wonka@billyburke.net with your order number and/or the email address you used when you placed the order and I’ll personally email you a copy of my version of “Pure Imagination” shortly thereafter.

THE CATCH: This track is only going to be available for the next 72 hours, then it’s back into the archives until who knows when. So if you’d like a free copy of the track… you gotta get it now.
DON’T STRESS… If you were one of the people who bought a “hard copy” when it first came out, the same thing applies. Simply send me a copy of your order number or email receipt and I’ll send you the track as well. I’m so sorry but due to online tracking difficulties we have to limit this offer to ONLY THOSE who bought the physical album. Not to mention, call me old school but I think physical albums are cool.

ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO TO the “VH1 Save The Music” Foundation so you’ll be helping provide a kid with a violin or a tuba or something while you provide yourself with a free bonus track and an album that has received unanimous 5 STAR REVIEWS on iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon and others.

After you take a listen, drop in a comment. Love it or hate it, I’d love to hear what y’all have to say.

Once again, this track is not available anywhere else and currently there are no plans to release it.

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